The worst critic is the inner critic. The worst censor is the self-censor. You don’t choose your ideas. Your ideas choose you. If you’re going to write you have to be prepared to go where your writing takes you. An idea is a seed. It contains inside itself the DNA of the story. The story …
A writer is the story’s bitch. (A pep talk to myself.) Read More »
I’m talking about writing. I mean, no one makes us do it. Us writery people. It’s hard work. No, really, you non-writery people, it is. A slog, most of the time. Back-breaking. Well, maybe not back-breaking, but certainly butt-expanding. And mostly thankless toil. The financial rewards, unless you’re one of a very lucky few, range …
The internet is a marvellous thing. There is all sorts of stuff out there. Including this interview with composer Ed Hughes, who talks about the opera we created together When The Flame Dies. You can view the video on Sussex University’s Reframe website here. Or if my embedding works, it should be visible below.
Ah, my poor neglected blog. If this blog was a dog it would be rescued by the RSPCB (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Blogs). This blog is the equivalent of a starving mange-ridden dog kept chained to a post in a dirty back yard, its fur matted, slipping around in its own …
I’m reading it at the moment, after hearing Gyles Brandreth and Deborah Moggach enthuse about Arnold Bennett on Radio Four’s Great Lives. I have to say, I think it’s absolutely brilliant. I’m completely hooked. Slightly ashamed to admit that I’ve never read any Arnold Bennett till now, of course. Always meant to, never got round …